BY: DICKERSON, A.J. ;  Associated Press Writer
  DATELINE: HIALEAH, Fla. (AP)   June 10, 1987

  A  furiouscrowd  booed,  hissed  and  jeered city attorneys who told City
Council  it  could not legally stop a religion that sacrifices animals from
opening its first public church in Florida.
  "They,  the  same  as any other religious group, have the right," Richard
Gross,  assistant city lawyer, said at Tuesday's public hearing to consider
Santeria priest Ernesto Pichardo's efforts to set up a church.
   "We  don't  want  it!"  shouted  the  audience of 300 people. Some 5,000
people had signed a petition seeking to keep out the church.
   And  council  members,  who  had  heard  three  hours  of  protest about
Santeria, tried to oblige.
   "They  (Santeria  practitioners)  are  in  violation  of everything this
country  stands for. I believe this council has the authority to stop these
people," said member Silvio Cardoso.
   But  afer  the  lawyers  said  the  seven  council members could be held
personally  liable  if  they lost a discrimination suit, the council didn't
vote  on  a  proposal  to  outlaw  animal sacrifice in this city of 145,000
people.
   Instead,  it  unanimously  passed an emergency city law adopting Florida
law  on  the issue, which does not specifically ban the practice if animals
are killed humanely.
   Gross  said  the  vote  was moot Florida statutes would supercede a city
law.  But he said the law is unclear on animal sacrifice, and said he would
ask Florida's attorney general for a ruling.
   Santeria  animal  sacrifice  is performed in rituals seeking favors from
the  cult's  gods.  The  centuries-old religion, created when African slave
beliefs merged with Catholicism, includes the sacrifice of chickens, doves,
pigs and goats.
   Experts  believe about 40 percent of South Florida's Hispanic community,
or about 1 million people, have explored Santeria. Anthropologists estimate
that  related,  similarly  derived  religions have 100 million followers in
Latin America and the United States.
   Placards at the hearing read, "Attention cannibals ... and other savages
... get out of the U.S.A.!" and "Hialeah para Cristo (Hialeah for Christ)."
   One  woman  told  of  living  next  door  to  a house where Santeria was
practiced. "My nights were a horror of drums beating and animals screaming.
I have seen them drink blood," Pat Keller said.
   Pichardo,   who   briefly  attended  the  hearing,  called  such  claims
ridiculous.  He  said  animals  are  slain  quickly and remains disposed of
cleanly. Few followers were at the hearing to back him up.
   "We  felt  we  were going to be swamped by fanatics if we brought in our
people,  provoking  people  getting  hurt," he said after the hearing. Late
Tuesday  about a dozen followers met at the Lukumi Babalu-Aye church, which
is  leased  pending  its  sale  to  the  group.  The  church still needs an
occupancy permit from the city for the church.